This is the second straight year that two prospects are interchangeable with the first or second pick, meaning the top two teams could have equal satisfaction. This year’s version of Oden-Durant sweepstakes features Kansas State’s Michael Beasley and Memphis’ Derrick Rose — dynamic players with marketing and game-changing appeal.

If you look over the entire (lottery) period, the team with the worst record has won one of the first three picks 70 percent of the time. Sometimes there’s only one player who can change a franchise and sometimes two. If a team winds up with one of those picks, then the lottery has done its job.

樂透新秀對球隊的影響，灰熊助理教練Lionel Hollins是這麼說的：

The biggest thing is that it’s an energizer for the organization when you talk about fans getting excited. Look at what happened in Portland last year (landing Oden). It energized a whole city. When you’re down you need something that will enthuse the fan base. It just becomes a bigger-than-life situation. There’s so much interest. It’s a catalyst to having season ticket holders.

And what’s at stake basketball-wise is getting a player who can come in and play right away. They can’t have a guy drafted this high sitting on the bench waiting to develop.

The whole culture is they appreciate the guy who passes the ball to the guy who gets the assist and passes to the guy who scores. They appreciate the work that went into it. Even the guy who is not getting the stat is important in the whole function of the team and the goal that is being made. That, to me, is fundamental.

Soccer is a lot like basketball. It’s a game of geometry. Spacing, distances, direct lines — they operate on these angles and reverse sides of the court with the ball, just as we would in the triangle. Not being a soccer coach, I can’t really address it with intelligence, but a lot of the concepts are similar.

Okur表示，足球讓他學到如何以身體去擋住防守者(using his body to seal off a defender)，以及空手走位(move without the ball)。Olajuwon則說，足球訓練是讓他擁有footwork的原因。